Aliens vs Predator: Clash
by Hallows-End
Summary: So many strange things can happen in a pyramid 2000 ft. below the surface of an Antarctic island. Shifting walls, an alien war. But who's this strange new girl that appears out of nowhere? And what monsterous secrets hide behind her green eyes?
1. Prologue

**Aliens vs. Predator: Clash**

**By: Hallows-End**

**Disclaimer**: To put it bluntly, I do not own any of the ideas of Aliens, Predators, the AVP movie, or any of its plot or characters. I do own the two new characters mentioned in the prologue (their identities will be revealed later).

**AN**: The story starts a little bit into the movie, with the team already under the ice heading to explore the pyramid. I'll warn you now that certain lines in this story might not be exactly what they said or did in the movie. I will also be showing some scenes, but possibly leaving out others shown in the movie. Some important scenes will be shown of course. So please don't flame saying I didn't warn you.

Happy reading…

**Prologue**

**-Piper Maru -**

"Storm's coming! Get that equipment inside _now_!" Captain Leighton shouted to the scurrying crew of the Piper Maru. The snow storm had come up fast, strong, and unexpectedly, almost tossing equipment and several crew members off the side of the ship.

"Check your secure lines!"

Just then an unfortunate crew member scuttling across the deck got hit with a particularly strong blast of wind. A startled cry left his mouth as he skidded across the deck to crash into the guard rail. Reaching out on instinct, he just barely managed to grab hold of the rail while another crew member rushed over to help before he plummeted into the icy water far below the deck.

Leighton cursed under his breath. "All crew report inside now! Get off of the deck!" He turned to the young man standing next to him. "You, make sure communications with the camp don't go down."

He knew though that even if they were able to keep the radios going during the storm and the camp did call for help, there wasn't much they would be able to do until the weather decided to give them a break.

Leighton watched the few crew members left outside scramble to get to safety. He turned to follow them when a strange noise seemed to make itself known over the noise of the storm. Looking around, he saw nothing at first through the torrents of snow, but the noise sounded again. Something huge and dark passed quickly overhead. It was only a few hundred feet up and flew almost directly over the ship, but was gone before anyone could even really think straight.

"THE HELL WAS THAT?" One of the workers shouted over the noise of the storm.

Leighton rushed inside and all but ran to the communications room.

"Get those radios up now, we need to contact the camp. You! Was there anything picked up on the radar a few minutes ago?"

A surprised technician glanced at Leighton, then turned to the computers. "Because of the storm it's hard to see anything. But nothing unusual has come up.

"Captain, we can't seem to get a hold of the camp, the storm is interfering too much with the signals.

There was a moment of silence. 'Hopefully I was wrong. Maybe the storm just made me see some strange shadow flying over, heading right for the camp. Besides, what could possibly be way out here?'

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**-A few miles from the Whaling Station -**

Torrents of nearly blinding white snow blew viciously through the air. No life could be seen. Nothing relying on instincts dared to be out in a storm like this. Nothing except-

Two dark figures seemed to flicker in and out of vision as they pushed their way through the wind.

"You better have a damn good reason for making me come out here old man. You know I hate places like this." A young, grumpy voice shouted to be heard over the howling wind.

"You know I would not have called unless something was wrong. And I assure you, I can sense something very wrong."

"Oh you sense something, how clarifying." The young voice clearly had a feminine tone to it, and it came from underneath the hood of the slightly taller figure. The other, hunched figure decided not to reply with the female in this mood.

A little while later, though it felt a lot longer to the female, they finally came upon what appeared to be an abandoned town. It was dark and foreboding, shadows clung to everything. They silently made their way through the whaling station. The girl glanced to the side to see the giant bones of a long dead whale half buried in the snow. She pulled her jacket tighter around her.

Suddenly, the girl paused when a strange scent passed by them on the winds. Trying to peer through the torrents of snow, the girl spotted a dark patch on the ground a few feet away. Stepping closer, the girl scooped some of the dark snow in one cupped hand to inspect it.

"Blood."

Something wet and dark hit the back of her other gloved hand. The girl slowly looked up.

There, about ten feet off of the ground hung several human bodies, blood and gore running down as they hung upside down from something tied around their ankles. The girl slowly stood up.

"Well I guess you were right about something going on here." The girl turned around to face the other figure, but he had vanished. Growling and mumbling a few curses to herself, the girl glanced all around her. She picked up on recent but almost buried tracks in the snow. Quickly, she got up and followed them before they were completely filled in.

The tracks led her towards the edge of the whaling station where the other dark figure was waiting.

"I don't take too nicely to being left behind you know." The girl started to state hollowly, but stopped at the sight in front of them.

It was a huge hole leading into the ground. Lightly illuminated as far as could be seen, which after several hundred feet still didn't include the ground. There was a machine next to the two figures that held several ropes leading down into the seemingly endless tunnel. A couple had been cut.

"They are down there." The older figure stated almost to himself.

"Who's down there? What's going on old man?" The girl looked around and spotted the building a little behind them with a perfectly rounded cut through the top. The edge had been melted by something.

"It has started again. You might be the only chance we get." The older figure murmured.

"You're starting to babble. Speak up! What has started?" The girl practically hissed out in anger.

"Listen. Learn quickly. Think before you act. Don't fear your instincts. And most importantly, don't be scared to rely on someone for help if the need arises."

For a few moments all the girl could do was stare incredulously at the old man.

"Wha-" The girl started to question, but was cut short by the surprisingly iron grip on her upper arm.

"End the war!"

With a sudden surge of strength the girl never knew about, the old man threw the slim girl several feet in the air. With a grunt of pain and shock the girl found herself plummeting down the icy tunnel at an incredible speed. Her eyes widened and she couldn't contain a sharp shriek that pierced the frozen air and echoed loudly through the tunnel.

"I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS OLD MAN!"

**To be continued…**

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**Please review. I'm working on chapter 1 now and it should be up soon.**


	2. Chapter 1

**Aliens vs. Predator: Clash**

**By: Hallows-End**

**Disclaimer**: Still don't own anything AVP.

**Chapter 1**

**-Icy Cavern -**

The cavern at the bottom of the tunnel was silent in the cold, still air. Generator-powered lights illuminated a few boxes of equipment.

Suddenly a flow of powdery snow shot through the air creating a temporary cloud around the end of the tunnel. A metallic _thunk_ rang through the cavern, followed by a few curses of pain. The sounds echoed loudly off the walls, dislodging some more ice from the ceiling.

Pain shot through Gaia's numb body as she came to a sudden halt when her body hit the metal lift at the bottom of the tunnel. The lift had been there ever since it was lowered to carry crates of supplies safely down the tunnel to those waiting at the bottom.

Gaia then hit the floor heavily. Some of the ice in the air started to settle on her still form. For a few moments everything seemed to stop. Then, with some straining, Gaia slowly pushed her way onto her feet.

Shrugging the stiffness out of her shoulders, Gaia did a mental check to make sure everything was still intact. Glancing at her hands, she realized that there were holes right through the gloves at the tip of every finger.

"Damn, I just got these."

Gaia quickly went quiet as a familiar sickly metallic smell hit her nose. Whipping her head from side to side, she tried to find the source. Only a few meters away, partially hidden in the shadows, was a body of a man half frozen. Blood and gore were still oozing from tears in his neck that were so deep his head had nearly been decapitated. The kill had been very recent.

Quickly, all unnecessary, distracting thoughts were shoved out of Gaia's mind. Slipping into a defensive mode, she quickly surveyed her surroundings for traces of the brutal killer. That's when she noticed the pyramid towering in the darkness.

Gaia couldn't help but stop to stare at the impressive stone structure. Though it was obvious the building was a pyramid, it was the strangest looking one she had ever seen. With a vary of different designs, it looked like a giant mismatched puzzle. It seemed that hundreds of steps were cut into one of the pyramid's sides leading up to an entryway. That's when Gaia spotted three dark figures racing up the steps.

'Were these the guys the old man seemed so worried about? Only three…hmm. Well the sooner I can end this "war," the sooner I can get out of this frozen hell.' An eerie, humorless grin played across Gaia's face. 'Fine then, let the hunt begin…'

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**-The Pyramid Entryway -**

The three Predators quickly made their way through the entrance at the top of the stairs. Suddenly the biggest one halted, the other two came to a stop right behind it. Raising an arm, the Predator opened up a wrist computer strapped to its arm and started pushing some buttons. The other two Predators glanced around, scanning the area.

Red lasers shot a few inches up and started drawing up a 3D map of the pyramid. Zooming into a room near the center of the pyramid, several brightly colored figures were moving around, their body heat picked up by the computer. The map then backed out a little and seemed to follow a chute leading from the first room to one directly below it. The glow of several more figures made their way around the second room.

Letting out some short, angry clicks, the Predator shut off its computer and glanced back at its teammates who had seen everything. Breaking out in a run, the biggest Predator led the others deeper into the pyramid. After a few long strides, their figures seemed to shift unnaturally and then shimmer out of view.

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**-The Sarcophagus Room -**

"Hey guys, I think one of you needs to take a look at this."

Everyone in the room turned to see what the mountain climber, Alexa Woods, had found. In the middle of the room stood a huge container.

Sebastian and Miller were the first to reach it, followed closely by Mr. Weyland and the others.

It's a sarcophagus." Sebastian informed after looking it over. "Like the Egyptians used to make."

"Is there a way to open it?" Inquired Mr. Weyland.

Sebastian studied the marking on the lid of the sarcophagus. Running his hands over the groves of three circles, he tried to read the ancient carvings. "These look like dials."

"Like some kind of combination lock?" Max Stafford asked.

"Based off of the Aztec calendar." He shined his flashlight around so that the others could get a better look. "Days. Months. Years. The last date seems to be…1904."

"So this thing was opened up one hundred years ago?" Lex asked.

"What's today's date?"

Lex looked at her watch. "October 10."

"10, 10, 2004." Sebastian mumbled to himself as he tried shifting the dials around. Everyone went quiet, leaving the sounds of stone scraping on stone and the clicking of the mechanized lock to echo through the room. Finally, something seemed to set.

"Get back!"

Everyone jumped to safety as a loud grinding sound was heard and one of the sides of the sarcophagus slid out into a compartment. An eerie mist spilled out over the edges, disappearing before it could reach the ground. Slowly Miller crept forward and peered into the compartment.

"_Oh my God._"

The others quickly stepped forward to see. Inside the sarcophagus was not a body, but instead three futuristic looking objects glinted in the light of the flashlights.

"Any idea what these are?" Miller asked.

"Nope. How about you?" Sebastian questioned back.

Miller shook his head. "No."

"Good thing we brought the experts." Stafford replied sarcastically.

"Well yeah, it is a good thing, because this is like finding Moses' DVD collection." Miller snapped.

Harsh coughing sounded behind them and Lex made her way over to Weyland's side. He was breathing deeply from his inhaler.

"I'm fine." Weyland choked out as he tried to wave Lex away. "Just got a little overexcited."

"Alright, I think this is enough for the day. We will pack up here, go get the others, and set up camp at the Whaling Station for the night." Lex announced.

"Well, you can go back to the base camp Ms. Woods, but we're staying here." Stafford informed, turning away from Lex and inspecting the futuristic looking weapons again.

"No. You wanted to leave without proper prep, we did. You wanted to be the first here, we are. You've claimed the find. It's yours. Now we move as a team and we're done for the day." Lex stated slow and deliberately.

Weyland took a moment to glance at the others around him before speaking up. "Alright, you heard her. Let's move."

"Sir, what do you want us to do with these?" Stafford gestured at the objects in the sarcophagus.

"Take them with us. We can run more tests on the surface."

Stafford and two other men, Connors and Stone, stepped forward to pull each of the objects out of the sarcophagus. A few seconds too late Sebastian let out a warning. "No! Don't touch that!"

The second the objects left the sarcophagus, the thing started to close up. A deep rumbling could be heard from somewhere in the depths of the pyramid. Everyone looked around, panicked.

"What's going on?!"

The doorway they used to get into the room started to close, trying to trap them inside. Lex made a lunge for the doorway, followed closely by the others, but it shut just as her fingertips brushed against the rough stone. Several more bangs could be heard throughout the pyramid as other doorways had apparently been sealed off.

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**-The Pyramid Entryway a few minutes earlier -**

'Fine then. There's something else I can add to the list of things I hate.' Gaia thought to herself as she threw a glare back over her shoulder at the steps below her. Then, giving her mind a mental shake, Gaia forced herself to focus.

Moving slowly down a tall corridor she had entered, Gaia strained to peer into the shadows for the three figures she had been chasing. They were nowhere to be found.

'Great. If this place is like other pyramids it might be built like a maze to confuse intruders. It could take me ages to find these guys.'

Sure enough, at the end of the corridor, three separate, smaller corridors branched off in different directions.

"Damn it!" Gaia couldn't help but hiss through clenched teeth.

Making her way to the left passageway, Gaia peered through the darkness trying to find any signs at all that someone might have been down there recently. After a minute she moved on to the next one, repeating the process.

Was it just her, or did this passageway seem to be a little bit lighter than the others? Yes, this one definitely seemed to be a little lighter. Possibly someone with a flashlight around a turn?

Gaia made her way slowly down the corridor, glancing around and behind her every few seconds. She knew by now that you should never dismiss the possibility of an ambush. Eventually, the corridor did lead to a turn, and the light got brighter as she neared. But she could already tell that the light she saw did not come from a flashlight. The color of this light was a pale green. She stopped, carefully peering around the corner.

No one was there. Gaia stepped around the corner to inspect the light. It came from a glow stick of sorts that had been dropped on the ground, whether by accident or on purpose she didn't know. All she knew for sure was that someone had been down this corridor.

Just as she started to continue her trek, Gaia was stopped short by a sudden rumbling sound coming from somewhere in the pyramid. It got louder and louder, seeming to spread all over the pyramid. Suddenly, the sound of stone grinding on stone came from right behind her. Gaia turned and jumped back in one fluid motion, landing in a defensive stance.

A slab of the ceiling behind her descended quickly crushing the glow stick with a _crunch_ and sealing off her escape. The wall to Gaia's right shuddered and started to move out, threatening to crush her next.

So she wouldn't be trapped between the two walls, Gaia had no choice but to dodge her way farther down the corridor. The wall slammed shut inches behind her. Gaia took off at a run, determined to not be an easy target for anymore moving walls. She never saw the next trick coming when a shaft opened up right under her feet.

Letting a startled cry out, Gaia fell into the slanted chute below her. A few seconds later the floor slid back into place, no trace of anyone just coming through remained.

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**-The Sarcophagus Room -**

"Thomas?"

"Rousseau?"

"Come in. Can you hear me? Rousseau?" Several members of the team tried using their radios at once to try to get the ones left in the Sacrificial Chamber to answer them. No one was answering.

"Is there anything you didn't tell me about this place?" Lex asked Weyland.

"Nothing. Your guess is as good as mine." Weyland answered.

"Well whatever it is, we're not prepared for it." Lex informed the others. "We're going to round up the rest of the team and head for the surface. Let's move." She turned and started to walk away.

Max Stafford, Connors, and another military man named Stone unlatched cases they had been carrying a pulled out some guns and ammo. Lex whirled around at the sudden noise.

"What are you doing?" Lex questioned sharply.

"My job. Yours is over." Stafford replied calmly.

"My _job_ is over when everyone is back on the boat safely. And that gun doesn't change anything."

Suddenly, before anyone could think, a strange noise came from above them. Before Connors could come to his senses he was somehow pinned to the floor from something heavy falling from a hole higher up in one of the walls that no one had noticed before. Connors' gun bounced across the floor in front of him and two groans of pain could be heard.

Gaia tried to push herself up. Her mind was a jumble from aches and shock. Finally she got one of her hands on the rough stone floor and started to push herself up. Forcing her head up, she went to survey the room.

That's when she finally noticed the roomful of people…and two guns pointed right at her.

**To be continued…**

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**AN: **Sorry again if didn't get some of the movie lines right. And sorry if some of the story timing is a little off. I was actually planning on a little bit of a different ending for this chapter, but after checking the part in the movie I realized that the timing wasn't right.

I'm going to try to get the next chapter up as quickly as I can. The Predators and Aliens will be seen a lot more in chapter 2.

Please review and let me know what you think so far.


	3. Chapter 2

**Aliens vs. Predator: Clash**

**By: Hallows-End**

**Disclaimer**: Still don't own anything AVP.

**Chapter 2**

** The Sarcophagus Room **

Gaia glanced wildly around the room trying to figure a way out. She realized now that she had landed on one of the people, a man by the sound of his pained groan. She also noticed the gun on the floor not too far away, obviously dropped by said person. Of course, with the other two guns trained on her, she didn't dare make any sudden movements.

'Wait, these three with the guns…are they the ones I'm looking for?'

It didn't take Gaia long to shake that thought away. Just by glancing at the other people in the group, who were in fact weaponless, she could tell from their wide eyed expressions and by the way they hung back, that they were not any type of crazy killers. And the ones with guns acted more like guards.

Gaia was pulled out of her thoughts by a woman's voice.

"Put your guns down! It's just a girl! Put them down!" The woman commanded. Apparently in the fall Gaia's hood had fallen back. Her long, dark hair was tied back from her pale face. Bright green eyes darted around.

"Crap. Can you get off of me already? You're damn heavy." An irritated voice said. If Gaia had been any other girl, and had the situation been a little less dire, he might have got smacked for that one.

Instead, Gaia got up quickly and backed away from everyone with hands out to show she wasn't holding any weapons. If forced to fight, she doubted she could take them all down, so she decided to go with talking it out. 'Maybe then I can get some answers.'

"Who are you? How did you get here?" One of the armed men demanded to know.

"So there is another team here. Which company sent you? Where is the rest of your team?" An older man asked, glaring accusingly at Gaia.

"I-I can't remember very clearly. It was dark and quiet, then everything started moving." Gaia tried to pull off looking a little sheepish.

Raising an arm up, Gaia ran her hand through her hair at the back of her head causing a few strands to come loose. When she pulled her hand away there was a little bit of blood on her fingers from a cut she gave herself from her nails. She winced slightly and held up her hand so the others could see.

"I think it has almost stopped bleeding. You'll have to excuse me for being a little disoriented and confused." Gaia prayed they believed that she got a head wound. Though she knew completely forgetting what had happened to her was a little too convenient of an excuse, Gaia hoped that they would at least go for temporary confusion and a massive headache. Now, if she could just change the subject before they could think about it too much.

"Um, are pyramids supposed to move around like this?"

"No, they aren't. This pyramid is different. And it seems that we have accidentally tripped some sort of elaborate trap." A tall, dark haired man with some type of accent, Italian maybe, replied, then turned to glare at one of the gunmen.

"And like I said before, we're not prepared for it. We need to head for the surface as quickly as we can. We'll go get Thomas and the others in the Sacrificial Chamber and see if we can spot the other team on the way out. We're bringing…her with us for now." The woman paused for a few seconds, not knowing Gaia's name.

"Oh, there's an opening here in the staircase Ms. Woods." A wide-eyed, pale, and somewhat scrawny man piped up.

The woman tailed her flashlight into the opening, then looked at her watch. "This bearing should take us back to the entrance, and we'll regroup at the Whaling Station."

"Alright, let's get out of here for now and get some more answers later." The older man said. "Max."

The gunman named Max looked at the old man, then gave a signal before walking over to join him. The man Gaia had landed on grabbed her shoulder and pushed her forward a little roughly to follow the others. Gaia couldn't really blame the guy for being annoyed at her, she probably would have felt the same way if some strange person just came out of nowhere and almost crushed her.

Glancing ahead, Gaia noticed the woman hesitating, waiting for her to catch up. Gaia stepped up.

"My name is Alexa Woods, though people usually just call me Lex. Don't worry I'm going to lead everyone out of here and we'll see if we can find your team too."

Gaia couldn't help but admire the woman's spirit and confidence.

"People just call me Gaia. I'm just a college intern so I'm not really sure what's going on."

Lex gave Gaia a reassuring smile. "Well, it's nice to meet you, even under these…strange circumstances. Now why don't we get out of here?"

"Ah, what an interesting name. Also the name of the Greek earth goddess." The man with the Italian accent spoke up from behind them as they walked forward. "My name is Sebastian De Rosa."

Lex started to raise her hand behind Gaia's head, but Gaia had noticed the movements out of the corner of her eye. Catching on to what Lex had in mind Gaia ducked her head and smiled apologetically.

"I'm fine, really. Just a scratch and a slight headache." Turning, Gaia caught Lex's hazel gaze trying to firmly reassure her. But from what Gaia had seen from Lex so far, she feared that the woman wouldn't drop the issue so easily. Especially since she seemed to feel like she was responsible for this group's safety.

That's why it was surprising to see Lex's gaze turn from defiant to confused. After a few seconds she broke eye contact and seemed to study Gaia with a distant look on her face. Gaia started to feel unexplainably uneasy. Past experiences made her hate being studied closely.

'What the hell is wrong with her?' Gaia wondered to herself. Finally fed up with it, Gaia went to snap Lex out of her thoughts.

"Do I know you from somewhere?" Lex blurted out suddenly. "You look familiar."

Gaia was shocked for a few seconds. When the question finally sank in Gaia let out a mirthless smile and shook her head. "Oh, I doubt that. I…don't get out that much." Gaia chose her words carefully.

Lex's gaze suddenly became suspicious. "Yes, all that studying keeping you busy huh?" 'She's a smart one.' Gaia thought. The noise of someone clearing their throat caught both of their attentions.

"Well ladies, what say we get the heck out of here?" Sebastian suggested. Placing open palms on both of the girl's back he gently nudged them forward.

Lex, Gaia, and Sebastian continued slowly down the path keeping up a little conversation; mostly on Sebastian's part. Miller stopped and turned towards Weyland before heading after them.

"The heat bloom that your satellite detected makes a lot more sense now, Mr. Weyland."

Weyland stopped and turned sharply towards Miller. "What do you mean?"

"Well, a building this sophisticated would require a major energy source. I think that's what your satellite detected. A power plant for this pyramid firing up. Preparing."

"Preparing? For what?"

Miller didn't have an answer for that.

"Gentlemen." Lex called back. She didn't want half the group falling behind now.

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** The Sacrificial Chamber **

Adele Rousseau jumped awake from some nightmare she couldn't quite recall. Gasping for breath she stared up at the dark stone ceiling confused and disoriented. Catching a glimpse of something from the corner of her eye, Adele tilted her head to the side to see better. She gasped and shot back in alarm, recognizing the spider-like thing lying on the floor with its legs up in the air.

The strange creature wasn't moving. As far as Adele could tell it looked pretty dead, but there were no visible wounds anywhere on the creature's body.

Memories came rushing back. Adele remembered now how she, Thomas, and some others were told to stay behind and document everything they found in this room. The rest of the team had gone on ahead to explore another room that was supposed to be directly below this one. Adele even remembered hearing the muffled voices echoing up the shaft in the floor, though she couldn't make out any words.

She remembered when the grinding and banging noises had started up. When the walls slid shut, blocking all exits from the room. She had tried to stop one of the walls by pushing some of the heavy equipment underneath it. But all that happened was the equipment had been crushed into the ground.

When they had turned away from the blocked doorways the weird egg shaped objects had been there. Or at least they had thought they were just objects until they had opened up, and the spider-like creatures inside had jumped at them.

Adele had not been able to bring her gun up in time to shoot them before one of the little monsters had latched onto her face. She remembered her own muffled screams of panic and not being able to breathe. And then everything went black.

Adele snapped back to reality and glanced around the room. Her eyes widened as she spotted her companions. Their bodies were slumped over; their flashlights had fallen from their limp hands. But the most horrifying thing was the creatures still latched on to their faces. One of the men started to move slightly and the creature tightened its whip-like tail tighter around his neck. He didn't move again.

Panic started closing in now and Adele gasped for air. The harsh sound echoed loudly in the quiet room. Adele felt achy and sick. Her head hurt, her stomach hurt and she distinctively felt nauseous ness creeping up. She coughed once, then twice. The pain in her stomach and chest seemed to suddenly double. Reaching up, she unzipped her jacket and leaned back. Her breaths started to calm and the pain seemed to fade slightly.

The loud crack of one of her ribs cracking took Adele by surprise. Head flying back, she let out a pain filled shriek. There was a few second pause before several more cracks rang through the room. Screaming in agony, Adele stared in horror at a bulge moving inside her chest. Blood pooled through her shirt, and with one final, loud crack, Adele's chest burst open in a rain of blood and gore.

Adele let out her last scream of fear and pain as her darkening eyes watched the serpent-like creature rear its head up from the hole in her chest and screech at her.

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** The Statue Hallway **

Gaia's head shot up suddenly.

"What's wrong?" Sebastian asked after Gaia's sudden movement caught his attention.

"Just thought I heard something." Gaia mumbled, shaking her head. "It's nothing." Max, who had taken the lead, glanced behind him and whispered a commanding "Keep close!"

Everyone fell quiet again as they moved their flashlights around the vast corridor trying to figure out where they had ended up. Strange carvings and statues decorated the corridor. Near the ceiling on both sides of the room stood a row of masked beings clad in strange armor and holding elaborate designed spears.

Lex and Sebastian trailed their lights across one of the at attention statues.

"Recognize what's on their shoulders?" Lex asked.

Sebastian instantly replied with a simple "Yeah."

Gaia tried to see what they were looking at. It seemed to be some type of small gun-like weapon strapped to the shoulder of the statue. Gaia glanced over to Lex. 'Clearly I missed something here.' She narrowed her eyes in thought. 'I've never seen those weapons before.'

Max glanced back with a sneer. "We worshipped these things?"

"According to this we did." Sebastian answered as he stared at some of the carving on a wall. "And the artifacts you removed from the sarcophagus seem to be their weapons."

"Hmm." Max scoffed.

Gaia stepped over to Sebastian, still trying to make sense of what they were talking about. But before she could ask him anything Gaia stopped short, the smell of the room had changed just slightly.

'They're here!' Gaia spun around trying to peer into the darkness behind them. Nothing moved.

"Let's keep moving. Only another 200 yards to the entrance." Lex informed, looking at her compass. Still slightly annoyed, the gunman that Gaia had fallen on grunted and gave her a shove forward. Gaia still couldn't see anything out of place in the room so she grudgingly let herself be pushed along.

The party continued on its way for a few more meters before the chaos really started. With a feeling of dread, Gaia heard the almost muted gurgling coming from the gunman behind her. Whipping around quickly, she saw the gun he carried drop from the darkness above. The sharp bang of the gun hitting the ground caught everyone's attention.

"Take cover. Move! Move!" Max shouted and everyone was shoved towards one of the walls. "Where's Stone?" The flashlights darted back down the hallway. "Stone!"

"No! They're above us!" Gaia finally shouted out.

A split second later Gaia felt the air shift as something metal flew right by her and impaled the man next to her through the chest. His body convulsed and his hands clenched up causing his gun to go off shooting at nothing. Gaia grabbed the side of the gun and moved it so the bullets would hit the wall instead of swinging over and hitting one of the other party members.

Now Gaia could clearly see that the metal object was a long ornate spear, pointed at both ends. The spear had been thrown with enough force to pierce right through the man and continue partway into the wall behind him. The man's eyes were wide with shock. He coughed up blood and slumped to the ground.

Everyone started shooting wildly up at the statues. Rocks and debris flew everywhere. Before Gaia could even move and hand shot out and grabbed her shoulder. Reaching back with quick reflexes, Gaia grabbed the wrist and twisted slightly. Lex gave a little cry of pain before yelling out to Gaia that it was only her.

Letting go as if she was burned, Gaia lowered her head and moved over closer to Lex. The gunfire stopped and Gaia scanned above for any signs of movement.

A deep rumbling filled the pyramid as, to everyone's horror, the pyramid started to rearrange itself yet again.

"The pyramid's shifting again!" Sebastian cried out as he tried to pull away from a wall moving towards him.

A sound came from above and Gaia looked up with the others to see one of their attackers jump through the air from one of the upper ledges to another. Immediately the rest of the gunmen started shooting at the attacker. But to everyone's shock its form wavered and then disappeared midair.

Gaia was still looking up in shock. 'Hmm. Now I finally see why the old man was desperate enough to summon me here. The least he could have done though was tell me the enemy I'm up against isn't human.' Their attacker looked almost exactly like the image of the many statues lining the walls.

Suddenly Gaia was snapped out of her thoughts. "The doors are closing! Get out!" Max yelled.

In the confusion Gaia could see that the group was getting broken up. The wall right next to Gaia started pushing out toward them. Without really thinking about it, Gaia grabbed Lex and another person close by, who turned out to be Sebastian, and took off down the hallway towards the only exit she could see.

With surprising speed Gaia dodged to the side as part of the floor shot up to the ceiling right ahead of her. Lex and Sebastian struggled to keep up and not be dragged behind.

With one last, loud bang, the shifting finally stopped. And when Gaia finally had the chance to look around she realized that their group had suddenly dwindled down to five. Lex, Sebastian, Max, the old man, and herself.

Gaia looked around the room they were in and saw that there was no way out. She walked over to a shadowed corner, leaned against the wall and waited.

The old man took out an inhaler and started to breathe deeply through it, coughing every now and then. It was obvious to Gaia that he was pretty sick. She knew it would be a real chore to keep that one alive.

Max glanced over at the old man, gun clutch strongly in his hands.

"There's no way out back there." Lex said. Sebastian glanced up at her.

Suddenly something started beeping. Sebastian grunted and looked at his watch.

"What's that?" Lex asked.

"Just a theory. The Aztec calendar was metric, based on multiples of ten." Gaia looked over in interest. "I'm guessing that the pyramid reconfigures every ten minutes." Just then a stone next to Gaia started moving back. Sebastian grinned and everyone got up to check it out.

Max pushed past Gaia and shined the green light from the gun through the new passageway. "Let's stick together."

The old man leaned up against a wall and started coughing as the others walked past. Gaia held back.

"Weyland." Lex waited for Gaia and Weyland to go in front of her. The passageway was smaller then some of the ones they were in before and it was very dark. Max kept turning around in circles as they entered a larger room to make sure nothing came from the sides or behind. Something suddenly clattered to the ground making Max jump and turn around.

"Weyland, you okay?" Lex asked. In the light of a flashlight Gaia saw the object that had fallen. It was one of those creature's guns. Gaia's eyes widened as she picked up on a strange noise coming from back down the passageway.

Weyland bent down for the gun. "Leave it. It can only slow us down." Lex said.

"Too much has been lost to leave here with nothing."

Lex sighed. "Give it to me."

As Weyland started to put the weapon in Lex's bag Gaia cursed in a foreign language (_damn greedy man_) and briefly glanced back at the old man. "You're about to loose even more. They're here! Lex don't take that thing." Gaia cried out, but it was too late.

The attack didn't come from back down the passageway though. With a bang something came flying towards Max from his side. He turned just in time to get caught in a net and pinned to the wall behind him. His gun went off wildly as he yelled in pain and shock.

While everyone ran over to try to free Max Gaia backed towards them slowly trying to see through the darkness at the edges of the room. 'This is not good I can't see them, but I know there's more than one here.'

Gaia turned slightly to see the others trying to pull the net off of Max, but the more they struggled the tighter the net seemed to become.

"Hold on!" Lex yelled. Sebastian got out a knife and tried to cut the net but to everyone's surprise the blade just broke off. The net kept cutting into Max's skin leaving a deep crossed pattern of red all over his exposed skin. He was yelling in pain.

"Look out!" Max suddenly blurted out.

Gaia cursed at herself for being caught off guard as they all turned to see one of the huge creatures stomping right for them. Gaia had never seen anything like it. The creature was at least eight feet tall wearing some designed armor in vital spots on its body. Some type of mesh could be seen under the armor and over its greenish brown mottled skin. The creature was wearing an elaborate metal mask and from the back of its head some form of metallic dreadlocks hung down its back. The thing also had clawed hands and feet.

This was all Gaia had time to take in before the creature got way to close for comfort. In a fit of anger Gaia saw Lex run blindly towards it brandishing a pickaxe used in climbing. All the creature had to do was lift its arm and smack her aside. It turned on Weyland throwing him to the floor instantly.

Gaia moved to the side as Sebastian charged forward and tried to throw a punch at its unarmored stomach. Apparently the punch had no affect whatsoever on the creature. Gaia seemed to be too close because the creature, without even looking, shoved her back towards Lex with an incredible force.

Gaia turned her fall into a roll and skidded across the floor. She looked up in time to see the creature grab Sebastian around the throat with one hand and lift him up easily. Sebastian kicked and clawed at the hand around his throat but it did no good.

Suddenly the creature pulled out a metal tube and twisted it causing it to extend into a six foot spear. Before anyone could do anything it plunged the spear into Max's chest killing him almost instantly.

Gaia immediately reached behind her and under her long coat for the handle of the weapon she had concealed there. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Lex, infuriated, lunge for the pickaxe again. Gaia hissed out in shock as the air shimmed near her and she groaned as she was hit into a column holding up the ceiling.

Gaia could see as the attacker moved that it was a second creature, camouflaged in some way. The thing gave off some noise like a mix between a growl and a purr. Then a scrapping metal sounded as two blades extended from around its wrist. Lex pressed herself against the column in fear as the creature lifted its arm.

Enraged suddenly, Gaia simply acted. Letting go of the weapon she had been reaching for Gaia simply stood and lunged forward with all her speed and strength. Several things then happened in a matter of seconds. The creature was taken by surprise by the sudden attack of the small human as she tackled it from its side. But the creature shifted its balance almost immediately and Gaia was only able to move it a little over a foot to the side.

Unfortunately, Gaia had closed her mind to her surrounding during her rage filled attack. She had never even seen the other attack coming from behind where the creature once stood.

Just as Gaia had been knocked slightly backwards after tackling the creature, her body jerked uncontrollably. The creature next to her was staring at her through its mask. They both looked down almost slowly in shock to see something spiny and black in the little space between them. Both Gaia's and the creature's sides had been torn open by the attack.

Something shifted in Gaia's mind and she jumped back immediately. The creature, after the initial shock, seemed to brush aside its injury and roared out angrily. A deep hiss answered it.

A new creature crawled out of a hole in the wall. It had a large, long black head with no eyes. It seemed to have a drooling mouth with many silver looking teeth. Long arms ending with hands that could grab and razor sharp claws clung to the wall. Gaia realized that the thing that had cut open her side was this new creature's long, barbed tale. Both red and bright green blood dripped from the tail's end. The creature hissed again, baring its teeth.

'What the hell is that?' Gaia's mind shouted.

The first attacker spotted the new arrival and let out a roar as it threw Sebastian aside. Without warning the black nightmare jumped at the already wounded attacker, claws out and jaws wide.

Without thinking Gaia ran over and grabbed a shocked Lex and pulled her away from the combatants. Gaia only briefly noticed that Lex had some red and bright green blood on her.

"Lex get out! Get out now!" Gaia shook her and shoved her forwards away from all the creatures.

Lex nodded and ran to Sebastian and Weyland, Gaia brought up the rear. "Come on. Come on you guys." Lex and Sebastian supported Weyland between them as the made a run for a nearby staircase. Lex glanced wildly back for Gaia.

"I'm here! Keep going!" Gaia shouted to them.

Suddenly Gaia heard a high shriek from her right. In one fast movement, Gaia reached back under her coat and drew two thin swords. Gaia spun the blades through the air and sliced to her right. The swords hit home. She could feel her swords bury themselves in the almost invisible enemy hiding in the shadows.

The head of the nightmarish bug reached out at her. Gaia pulled one of her swords free and braced it in front of her as the bug bit down at her, getting the sword blade instead. A horrible shrieking filled the cold air as a sickly greenish blood came spewing out of the creature's head. Pulling down on the sword, Gaia sliced cleanly through the bottom jaw of the bug. Only then did she pull back her other sword.

The dark creature shrieked and hissed falling to the ground. It lay still for several seconds. Gaia went to turn away to hurry after the others when the black creature made a snap at her leg with a second set of jaws hidden in its mouth.

Gaia barely swung her leg out of the way in time. She glared at the creature and, using the momentum of her dodge, brought her leg back around quickly. With strength it didn't look like Gaia could possess, she kicked the underside of the creatures head making it jerk up. There was a sickening cracking sound and the creature went limp.

Gaia let out her breath and flicked one of her swords at it causing some of the gore to fall off. It was only then that she noticed that the blades of her swords had a hissing sound emitting from them. Gaia glanced down at her weapons and cursed.

The nightmare creature's blood was some type of acid, and it was slowly eating away at the blades.

It was then that Gaia remembered the other creatures in the room. Looking up quickly she noticed just one creature left. The wounded attacker was standing across the room staring at her. There was a large hole in the floor near its feet where Gaia could hear the continuing sounds of battle coming from.

The creature still didn't even seem to notice or care about the slash in its side, but then again Gaia hadn't really been paying attention to hers either. The creature seemed to be glancing from her to the hole in the floor and back as if trying to decide something.

Gaia didn't really care to stick around when the others were ahead with nothing to defend them from all these strange creatures. Slowly, Gaia backed to the stairs. She glanced at her weapons again, then smacked them against the walls on her sides trying to get any remaining eroding blood off of them.

Gaia turned and ran up the stairs, weapons still drawn. After all who knew what would happen next in this horror filled place.

**To be continued…**

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**A.N.**: I'm really sorry about taking so long for this chapter. A lot has been going on lately but now that things finally settling down I'm hoping to be able to write more. This chapter turned out a little differently then I pictured it. Please review and tell me what you think.

I would also like to thank:

ephona

InkosDelirium

And

X.evil.X.sinning.X.angel.X

for their reviews.


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